Chapter Nineteen: Graceful Dance

She opened the wooden medicine chest, took out some incense, lit it, and placed it in a specific direction. Then she scattered some furnace ash around it. Turning to see me standing motionless, she looked utterly speechless.

“Are you possessed by a ghost?” she asked.

I replied, “Can’t you strip her yourself?”

Xu Qingguo pinched some ash and countered, “The one administering the needles can’t touch the burial shroud. If you strip her, you’ll have to dress her in it again afterward. Otherwise, are you going to do my job?”

I swallowed hard.

“Snap!”

I tore off a piece of my own clothing and blindfolded myself.

“When she wakes up, don’t say I was the one who undressed her!”

If Xiao Qin found out about this, she’d definitely castrate me!

Though my eyes were covered, the touch of skin smooth as silk beneath my hands made my throat tighten and my cheeks flush.

Clumsily, I finished changing Xiao Qin’s clothes, let out a long breath, and tore off the blindfold, my forehead drenched in sweat.

Glancing up, Xu Qingguo sat on a large rock, munching on a biscuit, her small feet swinging, her mischievous face filled with teasing disdain as she looked at me.

“She’s not your sister-in-law, right?”

I retorted, “Mind your own business.”

Xu Qingguo burst into laughter.

“You’re still a rookie?”

I was speechless.

“Aren’t you a senior?”

I thought she’d be embarrassed, but instead, she wore a smug smile.

“I am! But as a doctor, I’ve seen countless bodies of the opposite sex—more than you’ve ever encountered. Hehe!”

I: “...”

What’s there to be proud of?

“Boom!”

Thunder rumbled.

Xu Qingguo immediately dropped her biscuit, jumped up from the rock, grabbed a dagger, and carefully sliced open an acupuncture point on the sole of Xiao Qin’s left foot. She solemnly adjusted her bright red robe.

“Don’t make a sound! When the spiritual worm appears, slash it immediately. Don’t let it escape!”

This was the decisive moment!

I grew anxious.

Large raindrops pelted down, soaking the incense, the ash, and the earth, filling the air with a strong, earthy scent.

Xu Qingguo’s expression was solemn and reverent. Holding a golden long needle, she bowed devoutly toward the Big Dipper, then began to perform the Yu step—a Daoist medicinal martial step—in the rain, chanting an ancient incantation.

“Golden needle worships lightning’s light, breaking the three yin, raising the nine yang, stepping like dragons and snakes, transforming cold frost!”

“Needle rise, Taiyi approaches the hall!”

“Needle fall, fire purges all afflictions!”

“Needle withdrawn, illness and filth must flee!”

...

Though these ritual chants seemed useless, later authoritative experiments from the Acupuncture Institute of the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine proved they not only enhance the practitioner’s brainwaves (focusing concentration) but also influence the patient’s meridian sensitivity.

Thunder roared, silver snakes of lightning darting wildly, rain pouring in torrents.

If it were anyone else performing this ritual, they’d appear mad and bizarre.

But Xu Qingguo, stepping the Yu steps with her red robe billowing in the rain, her hair flowing, her movements elegant and her voice ancient and melodious, looked like an ancient goddess of medicine dancing gracefully.

Her hand movements were swift as she chanted and repeatedly inserted the golden needle into different acupuncture points.

What surprised me most was that for the final needle, she used the “suspended needle” technique—the needle’s tip pressed just above Xiao Qin’s lumbar vertebrae but not pierced.

“Crack!”

A tremendous thunderclap exploded.

Lightning flashed immediately after.

The world brightened suddenly!

Under the intense light, Xu Qingguo’s face was pale as wax, her breathing rapid, rain or sweat streaming down her cheeks.

Suddenly!

A translucent worm about three inches long, the size of a chopstick end, covered with black blood veins inside, with three pairs of sharp claws on its head, darted swiftly from the sole of Xiao Qin’s foot.

“Zzzt!”

It seemed terrified and panicked, wildly rushing toward me.

My dagger was already eager for action. I poured years of practiced precision, strength, and skill into the blade.

A flash of silver light.

I missed!

Too much force!

The worm fell to the ground, trying to escape again.

My forehead throbbed. I lunged forward, slashing horizontally, then stabbed fiercely.

Thick black blood splattered everywhere. The worm’s body split in two, wriggling briefly before dying completely.

The stench of death instantly filled the air—almost suffocating.

Xu Qingguo’s face drained of color. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed, eyes closed, gasping for breath.

“That scared me to death. I thought it would get away...”

Rain and cold sweat soaked my back as I hurried to support her.

Xu Qingguo seemed utterly spent, her voice hoarse as she instructed me to fetch an iron box from the medicine chest and use tweezers to pick up the worm’s corpse.

Her meaning was clear: The spiritual worm is a rare subject in medical research. Ancient texts record a “worm pit punishment” from the Shang dynasty, where people were thrown into pits of worms to suffer. If its toxin could be analyzed and extracted with modern microbiology, it might help treat various insect venoms.

Just as I was about to grab the worm’s corpse, a commotion erupted below.

“Little Meng, run your ass off!”

Dong Fatty!

Through the curtain of rain, I saw him awkwardly twisting his fat butt and sprinting wildly uphill, pursued by five or six men wielding steel pipes.

The bushes on both sides shook violently as others closed in to encircle us.

It was exactly as feared!

Yesterday, I suspected someone had been secretly watching Dong Fatty, telling him not to return to the temple but to roam outside. Why had he suddenly come back?

I cursed under my breath, quickly hoisted my sister-in-law onto my back, grabbed the stunned Xu Qingguo’s hand.

“Move!”

After fifty or sixty meters, Dong Fatty, relying on his familiarity with the back mountain, caught up with us, his body reeking of strong alcohol despite the rain.

This guy wasn’t totally useless—on his way past, he even grabbed Xu Qingguo’s wooden medicine chest.

Glancing sideways, I saw sixteen or seventeen ruthless men approaching us from three directions, relentless in their pursuit.

I ran madly, urgently asking, “I told you yesterday not to return to the temple. What happened?”

Dong Fatty grimaced as he ran.

“The Daoist master got too drunk at the bar, blacked out, and forgot about it!”

“And then?!”

“I planned to visit you guys in the back mountain! But someone started following me like a ghost. The master got angry, hid behind a tree, then suddenly jumped out and slapped him hard, wanting to ask what he wanted.”

“Then several others suddenly charged out, knives drawn, asking where you guys were. The master was confused until one sharp-eyed guy shouted there was someone at the mountaintop...”

“Damn it, stop talking! There’s a cave nearby—let’s get in first!”

I nearly fainted from anger.

If he’s so unreliable, at least the three things he brought were fine.

If he’s reliable, then his drinking almost got us killed.

Carrying Xiao Qin on my back slowed me down greatly.

Xu Qingguo was exhausted and couldn’t run fast.

The pursuers were closing in.

If we kept running, we’d surely be caught.

We had no choice but to follow Dong Fatty’s lead and dash into a cave despite the heavy rain.

I hurried to the back of the cave.

Dong Fatty, gasping for breath, hurriedly stopped me.

“Don’t run around! There’s no exit back there!”

Cold sweat chilled me.

“No exit and you brought us in? We’re trapped like sitting ducks!”

Dong Fatty clutched his chest, coughing violently.

“Damn! They have more people. Staying outside means dying faster. The cave at least lets us ambush—take them down one by one!”

He sounded strangely philosophical.

There was no time to think now.

I set Xiao Qin down, grabbed my dagger, charged to the cave entrance, and shouted loudly.

“Idiots! Come get some!”

The pursuers stopped abruptly, afraid to enter.

They feared traps or ambushes inside.

My tactic had worked—for now.